A Trip to Andong

A traditional Hanok in the Andong Folk Village.

 There were no Black Friday deals in Korea, so we decided to hit the road and go explore.  We loaded up the car and headed southeast towards Andong.  The next few posts will be about our travels and the places we saw.

Andong - Home to Confucianism, Andong is also a major education center.  It has two great folk villages, the Andong Folk Village, which we visited, and the Hahoe Folk Village, which is a living, functioning village (known for its mask dance celebration in the fall, when we will have to go back).

The Andong Folk Village was originally a part of the Andong Folk Museum.  The museum was submerged after construction of the Andong Dam. The thatched and traditional houses were moved to their current location in the folk village prior to the flooding (this is happening a lot in Korea).   A hill situated behind the monument leads to the filming location of the popular drama 'taejo wanggeon'(태조 왕건, English: Emperor Wang Gun), based on the life of King Taejo. The Andong area has become a popular backdrop for numerous television dramas.

Sunset at the village.  Compressed, it just isn't as nice.

Newer monuments at the village.

My dream kitchen!  The big pot on the right was most likely for making Kimchi.

Gate overlooking the valley below.

Sunset and the pagoda bridge, a foot bridge connecting the small village on the opposite side with the folk village.

The folk village has been the setting for several major Korean motion picture films.  It does have an amazing setting.